Speaker Cable Length

Here's to more money down the drain in search of the magical length. I'm game. Too bad that I just sold 36' of extra Kimber Kable, I could have had a field day.

There is one cable manufacturer (Mapleshade) that does not recommnd using their cable in less than 8' lengths as it will degrade the sound. Also using it in it's standard form in lengths exceeding 12' will have the same affect. I have not tried their cable only because I use 17' runs with my current setup. I may end up placing my equipment in a hall closet which is behind the back wall of the speakers and then run my lines through the wall in order to shorten the speaker cable lengths. This would involve running outlets into the closet or using high quality extension cords, it would also void the use of my remote control. This is the only solution that I can come up without screwing up our living room layout. In brief, I think that shortening the cable runs is something that everyone should try.

I had looked into increasing the length of my IC's (in order to decrease my speaker cable runs) and was told that it would not be a good idea by two different manufacturers. The difference though between mine and Sam's setup is that I would have been running long IC's that carry the digital/analog signal prior to it reaching the preamp section. I could have either increased my digital cable from transport to DAC of the analog IC's from DAC to amp. I have two integrated amps and do not have seperate pre/power amps. Does this seem right, or is anyone using long IC's such as these in combination with shorter speaker cables with good results? By long IC's runs I am talking 15' - 20'. Both of the people that I contacted lost a sale by giving me this advice and I know that they were sincere.